Psychedelics are substances that can lead a person to deep insights, understandings, clarity and emotional intuitiveness as well as release of trauma and pain stored in the body or subconscious.

They can lead to powerful shifts - going to such deep places that many other modalities and therapies cannot reach.

They can help a person access parts of themselves that they may otherwise never connect to. These powerful tools can be helpful in countless ways. 

Psychedelics work on receptors in the brain- primarily the serotonin receptors which can cause you to lose sense of time and place, have visions, heighten your senses etc. 

Each psychedelic offers something unique. Some are more powerful, some are more gentle, some help you connect with your feelings while others connect you with logic.

There are 4 main ways psychedelics can be helpful. 

The first way is through giving you clarity and insights about yourself and your patterns. Once you understand yourself, why you are behaving in a certain way, and where certain characteristics originated from, it becomes much easier to work on these things and make changes in your life. 

For example, 

A client often gets angry but doesn't understand the root cause.

Until now he has been practicing anger management skills however it is a constant struggle. 

On the psychedelic journey he gets clarity on the root cause of his anger or clarity on which specific situations trigger him. With this understanding, he can heal the root cause and avoid triggering situations ultimately reducing the anger at its source. This can work hand in hand with the anger management skills he was already implementing, now it will be easier for him. 

The second way psychedelics can be used is to release trauma that is stored in the body or subconscious. You may cry, laugh, shake, yell, or purge. These are all forms of release. Depending on the psychedelic and the dosage, you may be aware of what trauma you are releasing or you may just feel the need to cry or shake. Both of these are great forms of releasing the things that are holding you back and will help you going forward. 

For example, 

A client has tried therapy to work on anxiety. Through learning breathing techniques and positive thoughts, her anxiety decreased a little. However overall she still struggles and constantly has to implement the skills she learned in therapy. The source of the anxiety hasn't been healed. 

On the psychedelic journey the client has a visual experience of herself at age 5 in a traumatic situation and begins to cry. 

This stored trauma is the source of her anxiety and is released during the journey. After the journey, she feels lighter and less anxious overall. The same outcome can come in a situation where the client doesn't have a visual of a specific memory but her body itself just feels the need to cry. She is releasing the root cause of her anxiety without even knowing it. 

The third way a psychedelic journey can be helpful is through connecting you to your deepest self. You can experience how truly special and unique you are, how deeply you're connected to The Source/Higher Power/Hashem. 

This deep spiritual experience can act as a reset - reminding you of your core values and feelings of worthiness. 

Self love helps us move foward in life and gives us the strength to keep going. 

The fourth way, is beyond logic and emotions. Psychedelics have a natural mystical ability to heal. Releases and shifts in the subconscious "can just happen" simply by the psychedelic being in your system. This process is happening in the mystical realm.

We operate in a legal gray-area in New Jersey. While at a federal level psychedelics were not fully legalized, it is becoming more and more accepted on a State level for healing, personal use and research.

Setting a clear intention - aka stating clearly what you want to gain from the journey is important. Because psychedelics can take you to many different places, the intention that you set in your mind, can be very beneficial and can work together with the psychedelic to take you to that specific place. Examples of intentions are: 

“I want to gain clarity in ____ area of my life” 

“I want to improve my relationship with ____”

“I want to better understand why I do _____” 

“I want to release _____ that I feel is holding me back” 

“I want to deepen my relationship with G-d” 

"I want to deepen the relationship with myself"

“I want my anxiety to decrease” 

For some people, the greatest intention is approaching the journey with openness, without expectations, ready to experience and learn.

In the days leading up to the journey, getting into the right mindset will ensure you gain the most you can from the experience. Anything that connects you to yourself whether it's journaling, meditation, spending time with yourself, sharing with someone you trust, taking a walk, a shower etc. will have a positive impact and help you walk into the journey most prepared.

During the journey, there are several tools that help the psychedelic flow and prevent the person from “getting stuck”. Some of these tools include 

Live music - psychedelics and music have a beautiful relationship. Music heard when on a psychedelic journey, enters a deep place because your heart is open and your senses are tuned in. 

It's normal for someone to feel overwhelmed at some points in the journey since it is an intense experience. Focusing on the music will help the journey flow from overwhelm or stuckness since music changes. Fast, slow, powerful, gentle, happier, melower.  

Because music is constantly changing, it has the natural ability to pull a person out of a scary place in a journey. 

Breath - on the journey you may feel scared or stuck. You may lose sense of time and place. One thing you will always have is your breath. This is the reason breathing through the stuckness, pain or fear is so grounding. It helps connect you to your body and gives you a steady rhythm to focus on. If we see that you are stuck, we will guide you to do some deep breathing. Something that may seem simple, but somehow can be hard to remember on the journey :)

Hapé - this is tobacco which comes in powdered form. It is not psychoactive. Hapé can take you deeper into the journey or it can bring you back down and ground you. The effect is based on dose of the hapé and intention. If at any point someone feels like it can be helpful or if we think it may be helpful, we'll offer you some.

Be easy on yourself. You just went through an intense experience. No need to understand or make sense of the journey right away, it's common for insights to come to you a few days after the journey. We call these “downloads” :)

After the journey we recommend that you be with your body rather than trying to remember each detail. 

It is normal to feel a “comedown” period for a few hours or a couple of days after the experience. This can include, nausea, headache, dizziness or feeling down. Remind yourself that it will pass. Sleep, eating well, a good shower and overall listening to your body will all help you relax and get back to yourself. 

After the initial comedown period (for some this lasts a few hours, others a few days) is when the integration period begins. In this stage, you begin to make sense of your journey, you can write down points as they come to you, if you have a therapist or trusted person to share with - now would be the right time. 

Integration takes the journey from a “cool experience” to an experience that leads to real change. 

After the journey, you may have clarity on practical steps to implement. You may have ideas that through speaking with a trusted friend will form into practicals. Or the psycedelic may have brought trauma to the surface, "opened it up" - so that now you have access to process it in therapy and work it through.

Psycedelics are a powerful tool but they are'nt magic - it's through implementing the practical work and being open that the lasting change can integrate and becomes a part of our lives.